III. THE RECOVERY OF THE DIVINE REVELATIONCONCERNING THE SPIRIT

The third item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the Spirit.

A. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God,the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ,the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of Life

The Spirit is the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6b), the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9a), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9b), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19b), and the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2a). Although I was in Christianity for years, I never heard anyone speak concerning the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. However, the Spirit of Jesus is mentioned clearly in Acts 16:7, the Spirit of Christ is spoken of in Romans 8:9, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is mentioned in Philippians 1:19. By reading these three books, we can see that today the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, has become something further: He is the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Not only so, He is also the Spirit of life.

B. The Compound Spiritas the Anointing Ointment

The Spirit is also the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment (2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27; cf. Exo. 30:23-26). The word anointed is used by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:21, and the word anointing is used by the apostle John in 1 John 2:20 and 27. This word is taken from Exodus 30:23-26 which speaks concerning the compound anointing ointment. That ointment was not merely olive oil, but was compounded of olive oil as the base and four kinds of spices. The four spices were ground into powder and then compounded with olive oil to make an ointment. This ointment was for anointing the tabernacle, the altar, and all their furnishings and utensils.

I became familiar with this through the writings of the Brethren. In Exodus 30 the Scofield Reference Bible has a note telling us that the compound ointment is a type of the Holy Spirit. However, it does not go on to tell us that this ointment is a compound with oil as the base and with another four spices as elements for compounding. I myself spent much time over a period of more than fifty years to study this matter. Through my study I found out that the oil signifies the Spirit of God and that each of the four spices typifies Christ with His death and resurrection. The first spice, myrrh, typifies the precious death of Christ; the second, cinnamon, typifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death; the third, calamus, typifies the precious resurrection of Christ; and the fourth, cassia, typifies the power of Christ’s resurrection. These ingredients have been compounded with the Spirit of God to become an ointment. This is the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment. The Spirit today is the compound Spirit, who is compounded with God the Spirit and with Christ’s humanity, with Christ’s death and the effectiveness of Christ’s death, and with Christ’s resurrection and the power of Christ’s resurrection. All these are now in the one Spirit. Eventually, this compound Spirit is referred to in the Bible as the Spirit (John 7:39; Rev. 22:17).

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Living Stream Ministry publishes the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of God's work with man in this age.